Local voices, Strange Things and the guides, written by people who live here.
58 stories
Story · History · 6 minute read
In 1931 the Northern Aluminium Company opened a works on the Southam Road, and Banbury stopped being only a market town. It rolled sheet for wartime aircraft behind a decoy factory, employed over 3,000 at its height, became Alcan and closed in 2009.
Story · History · 5 minute read
Just south of Bicester, under grass and plough, lies Alchester: a Roman army base dated by its gate posts to AD 44, then a walled town. The dig of 1996 to 2004, the veteran's tombstone found in its wall, and what there is to see now.
Story · Strange Things · 5 minute read
Aunt Sally is a pub game played mainly in Oxfordshire: you throw wooden sticks at a white doll on a metal spike. It began as a Victorian fairground shy with an ugly history, and survives today in summer leagues around Banbury, Chipping Norton and Oxford.
Story · History · 6 minute read
From the mid 1920s Banbury's livestock sales moved off the streets to a market at Grimsbury, and by the 1960s it was the largest stock market in England. It closed on 4 June 1998, after BSE and a failed move to the M40. What it was, and what stands on the site now.
Story · History · 7 minute read
The Banbury Cross of the rhyme is gone. Banbury's own aldermen had the High Cross pulled down on 26 July 1600. The cross you can see dates from 1859 and stands somewhere else, and nobody has ever shown who the fine lady was.
Story · Guides · 6 minute read
A self-guided heritage walk round Banbury town centre: the Fine Lady, the Cross, St Mary's, Parsons Street, the Market Place and the canal. It is under a mile (1.3km) and free, taking about an hour with stops, or two with the museum.
Story · History · 5 minute read
Banbury's Michaelmas Fair fills the town centre for four days each October. Records show fairs here from 1154, a hiring fair called the Mop by 1677, and a pleasure fair that outlived its purpose. This is that history, and how the fair runs today.
Story · Guides · 9 minute read
Banbury with children: the aviary and play areas in the two parks, the free museum, swimming at Spiceball, boat trips at Tooley's, then Silverstone Museum, Compton Verney, Burton Dassett and Sulgrave by car, with ages, prices and what to skip.
Story · History · 5 minute read
National Filling Factory No 9, east of Banbury, filled shells from April 1916 and employed about 2,000 people at its height. The M40 now cuts through it. About three quarters of its plan survives as earthworks, protected as a scheduled monument, on private land.
Story · Strange Things · 5 minute read
Banbury's best ghost lives in a hotel by the Cross: a priest said to have died of fright in 1687 when a servant rang the alarm as a joke. There is a Cavalier at the Reine Deer and tunnels under everything. What the stories say, how they differ, and what the record shows.
Story · History · 7 minute read
By 1614 'a Banbury man' meant a puritan, and writers mocked the town's zeal. Its people pulled down their crosses, a vicar preached twice every Sunday and was called the roaring boy, and the Quakers came next. What the record shows, and what was a joke.
Story · Guides · 6 minute read
Bicester with children: the play area and skate park at Garth Park, newts at Bure Park, a climbing centre, a pool and a cinema in the town, Scramble days at Bicester Heritage, the Cold War airbase at Heyford Park and boats at Lower Heyford, with ages, prices and what to skip.
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